New York Times: "The Iraqi military, alongside thousands of Shiite militia fighters, began a large-scale offensive on Monday to retake the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State, a battle that could either become a pivotal fight in the campaign to reclaim north and west Iraq or deepen the country’s bloody sectarian divide."

Daily Beast: "In less than 12 hours, there were two separate attempts to penetrate the White House grounds."

Los Angeles Times: "The video-recorded fatal shooting by Los Angeles police of a homeless man on skid row Sunday night has investigators looking for additional footage that could shed light on the deadly confrontation."

Public Service Announcement

The Hill: "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden on Sunday [Feb. 1] warned that the U.S. could see a 'large outbreak' of measles.... There are at least 102 reported cases in 14 states, according to the CDC. Frieden said that the U.S. is 'likely to see more cases.'... The said the best way to prevent the spread of measles was vaccination.Frieden said despite the U.S.'s 92 percent vaccination rate, there is growing evidence more parents are not vaccinating their children."

Get Off Your Ass!Los Angeles Times (Jan. 19): "New research that distills the findings of 47 studies concludes that those of us who sit for long hours raise our average risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and early death."

White House Live VideoMarch 3

2:00 pm ET: Josh Earnest's press briefing

2:20 pm ET: President & Mrs. Obama speak on expanding efforts to help adolescent girls worldwide to attend & stay in school

Adam Goodheart of the Atlantic reviews a book by historian Eric Foner that sheds new light on the Underground Railway that helped Southern black Americans escapes slavery, even though the participants were violating federal law -- openly, too: "It is a little-known historical irony that right up until the eve of Southern secession in 1860, states’ rights were invoked as often by Northern abolitionists as by Southern slaveholders."

CW: How I'll Spend My Weekend. Season 3 of "House of Cards" is up on Netflix now:

Deadline: ESPN suspendsKeith Olbermann for engaging in an "inappropriate" "Twitter War" with some Penn State students. ...

... CW: Hard to believe something like this hasn't happened sooner.

Buzz Aldrin during a spacewalk, November 1966. Last year Aldrin described the photo as the "BEST SELFIE EVER." CW: I'd say he's right.

New York Times: "Hundreds of photographs from the early years of the space age are for sale. That includes the first image taken from space — from an altitude of 65 miles by a camera on a V-2 rocket launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Oct. 24, 1946. (The boundary to outer space is generally placed at 100 kilometers, or 62.1 miles.) The prints are vintage — dating from that era, not modern reproductions — and come from the collection of a single European collector, said Sarah Wheeler, head of photographs at Bloomsbury Auctions in London."

#OscarsSoWhite. Soraya McDonald of the Washington Post: "Sunday was a study in contradictions; there was overwhelming emphasis on the visibility of black people in Hollywood, yet their peers hadn’t deemed their work fit for nomination in any of the major individual categories."

Common & John Legend accept the award for the song "Glory" from the film "Selma":

The Los Angeles Times' Academy Awards page is here. The main story is here. The list of winners is here.

Los Angeles Times: "A Palm Springs home built using Joseph Eichler’s original blueprints is under contract to sell for $1.29 million. The newly built Modernist design, considered the first true Eichler home developed in 40 years, came to market on Tuesday. According to real estate brokers and developers Troy Kudlac and Ross Stout of KUD Properties Inc., which handled the listing side, it sold that day for the asking price." With slideshow.

If you just can't get enough of the Academy Awards, the L. A. Timeshas a guide to Oscar-related TV shows. If you want to watch the Oscars online, here's where & how.

D. R. Tucker in the Washington Monthly: "... give [Jon] Stewart his props for the positive things he has done over the years. He has inspired a new generation of commentators who will continue to call out political perversity and media mendacity. However, the man was not without his flaws — and the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was a gigantic one. As Olbermann, Maher and Maddow have long argued, sanity has to defeat fear, not figure out some way to get along with it."

Matt Wilstein of Mediaite: "In addition to canceling Joy Reid‘s daytime show The Reid Report, which MSNBC sources confirmed to Mediaite earlier today, the network is also cancelingRonan Farrow’s show and moving Way Too Early’s Thomas Roberts back to a dayside role, anchoring a straight news show from 1-3 p.m. ET daily. Neither Reid nor Farrow have been fired by the network."

USA Today: "Random House Children's Books said Wednesday it will publish a recently discovered manuscript with Dr. Seuss sketches, called What Pet Should I Get?, on July 28. The publisher plans at least two more books based on materials found in 2013 by his widow, Audrey Geisel, and his secretary...."

Helene Cooper & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: President Obama "will hole up in Williamsburg, Va., starting on Saturday to get ready for debate No 2 on Long Island next Tuesday, and then will do the same thing next weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat in rural Maryland." ...

... Based on their focus group research, conducted during the first presidential debate, James Carville & Stan Greenberg tell the President what points he must/didn't make to reach swing voters: "To come back strong, the president must address future policy choices in a much bolder way -- and he must make this election about choosing a country that stands up for and elevates the 47 percent versus a country that tells its seniors, veterans, the working poor, the disabled, and, yes, the struggling middle class: 'You are on your own.'"

New York TimesEditors: "Thursday night's vice-presidential debate was one of the best and meatiest political conversations in many years, showing that real differences on public policy can be discussed with fervor, anger, laughter and real substance. In contrast to the dismal meeting last week between President Obama and Mitt Romney, this debate gave voters a chance to evaluate the positions of the two tickets, in part because Paul Ryan's nonanswers were accurate reflections of his campaign."

The Obama campaign put out this Web video this morning:

Dana Milbank: "The emphasis on congressional Republicans was key to Biden's strong performance in Kentucky, because it provided a more favorable way for Democrats to frame the campaign: not as a choice between President Obama and some abstract alternative but a choice between Obama and the dimly regarded Republican-led House, which would be in a dominant position under a President Romney."

... Ryan's comeback: Romney just misspoke & didn't mean it. "I think the vice president very well knows that sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way." ...

... Biden's retort: "But I always say what I mean. And so does Romney."

Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times: "Let me say a few words about the really astonishing person who appeared at the vice presidential debate on Thursday – the moderator. Martha Raddatz of ABC News didn’t ask puffy questions like Jim Lehrer did at the presidential debate. Or let the candidates get away with vague non-answers, as Jim Lehrer did. Ms. Raddatz acted like a working journalist instead of a television personality...." ...

... Adam Martin of New York magazine: "ABC News's Martha Raddatzdistinguished herself in just about every way from Jim Lehrer. She asked pointed questions, kept the candidates roughly within the time constraints, and switched topics smoothly, such as when she asked Paul Ryan and Joe Biden to talk about Iran." ...

... Josh Voorhees of Slate: not everybody lovedRaddatz. Righty-right wingers thought she was picking on Paulie & Bloomberg's John Barro thought she asked too many questions about the Middle East while ignoring the rest of the world.

Rachel Maddow reports that a CBS flash poll of undecided voters found that 50 percent said Biden won, 31 percent said Ryan won, & 19 percent called it a draw. Update: according a CNN snap poll of voters, 48 percent said Ryan won, 44 percent said Biden did.

The New York Times liveblog/fact-check for the vice-presidential debate is here.

CW: Biggest question for me is the post-debate discussion. Can the talking head of Chris Matthews refrain from exploding & blowing any Biden gaffes, etc. out of all proportion? ...

... Update: Matthews managed to hold his head together & said that overall Biden won the debate.

... Kevin Robillard of Politico: "In a photo series taken in December 2011, Ryan is shown lifting dumbbells while wearing a red baseball cap backward and elaborate ear buds. The photos appear in this week's issue alongside a profile of the GOP vice presidential nominee.... The photos were posted online Thursday morning, and it didn't take long for the snark to start." ...

... Jim Acosta of CNN: "An aide to Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryanaccused Time Magazine of 'poor judgment' in its decision to publish photographs of the Wisconsin congressman working out on the day of his debate with Joe Biden." ...

... Dan Amira of New York magazine: "In December of last year, a time when Paul Ryan must have known that he would be on any candidate's V.P. short list, Time approached the Wisconsin congressman about posing for a series of intimate weightlifting photos, and he was like, 'Yeah, sure, I can't see why not.' ... Is this any less silly than Dukakis in the tank or Kerry in the Woody Allen sperm suit? It's like the mimbo from Seinfeld is running for vice-president." ...

... CW: I find the mimbo way more appealing than Paulie.

... Hamilton Nolan of Gawker: "Hey Paul Ryan, nice little red hat, did you bring that little red hat to the photo shoot yourself? Yeah, I bet you did. Does your little red hat help you with your concentration curls? Yeah. I bet it does. Fuck this guy."

James Ball of the Washington Post: "President Obama used a rally to activists in Miami on Thursday to reiterate his campaign's post-debate efforts to portray former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as a hardline conservative posing as a moderate."

Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Mitt Romney delivered his most pointed criticism to date of President Obama's handling of the lethal attack in Benghazi, Libya, on Thursday, a possible foreshadowing of how Rep. Paul D. Ryan will address the issue in the vice-presidential debate."

Paul Krugman: "... the Obama administration has been wrong about some things, mainly because it was too optimistic about the prospects for a quick recovery. But Republicans have been wrong about everything.... Republicans ... are committed to an economic doctrine that has proved false, indeed disastrous, in other countries."

Joe Vardon, et al., of the Columbia,Ohio. Dispatch: "A Mitt Romney administration overhaul of President Barack Obama's health-care law would provide those without insurance who have a pre-existing condition the opportunity to gain coverage, the Republican presidential nominee told The Dispatch yesterday." CW: Great! In that case, people, Romney's overhaul would have to provide for the individual mandate or something like it (in Massachusetts Romney wanted the uninsured to post bonds). So, um, Romney's "overhaul" would be -- in essence -- just like ObamaCare. You might call it RomneyCare. Except this is another Big Lie. ...

... Kate Pickert of Time tries to decipher/extrapolate/guess what Romney's plan is for covering healthcare costs for people with pre-existing conditions. CW: it is ridiculous for reporters to have to play Guess the Policy with nearly every aspect of the Romney Plan to Screw America outside of ditching Big Bird & Planned Parenthood.

Since we've done some great photos of the GOP's vice-presidential candidate, it seems only fair to include one of the top dog. Here's an AP photo published October 8:

... The original caption was "Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney poses for photographs with students of Fairfield Elementary School, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, in Fairfield, Va." As Dylan Byers of Politico reports, "after drawing fire from FoxNews.com and other conservative websites for what some dubbed a 'cheap shot' against the candidate." the AP changed its caption to read, "Republican presidential candidate..., blah blah. A student, right, reacts as she realizes Romney will crouch down directly in front of her and her classmates for the group photo." Still, I thought one Akhilleus suggested was far superior to the AP revision: "Too bad impressionable students have to find out so early in life what a real asshole looks like."

Josh Marshall of TPM: "A lot of reporters seem to have gotten it into their heads that you can't accuse Mitt Romney of both being hard-right and also a flip-flopper.... This is silly.... On simply logical terms, someone can be hard-right and would govern hard-right but is consistently shape-shifting and running away from their positions to suit the politics of the moment and gain power. In other words, he's not leveling with you. He's trying to fool you. That works since that's basically what Romney is doing."

Congressional Races

When Democrats Debate Each Other -- Make Sure A Peace Officer Is Nearby. Under California's new law, candidates in the general election are the top two vote-getters in the primary, no matter what their party. So what with redistricting, one Congressional district has two Democratic Congressmen running against each other: Brad Sherman & Howard Berman. Gene Maddaus of L.A. Weekly reports: During a debate at Pierce College, "Berman took a step toward Sherman. Sherman warned him not to 'get in my face,' and then moved even closer, grabbing Berman around the shoulder and saying, 'You want to get into this?' As the crowd of college students cheered and hooted, a deputy stepped up to the stage to make sure the confrontation didn't go any further":

Other Stuff

Ian Austen of the New York Times has more on Lance Armstrong's doping; his story concentrates on how Armstrong & other U.S. team members got away with it. What a dispiriting tale. ...

... "Lawmen against the Law." Speaking of dope of a different nature, Tim Egan on ballot measures in Washington, Colorado & Oregon to legalize marijuana: "... those on the front lines of the endless drug war, the police and prosecutors, are now citing futility and common sense on behalf of legalization -- at least in [Washington] state. And many of those who now profit from the unregulated medical marijuana industry, and the larger, organized crime gangs that control the illegal wholesale scene, are against legalization."

News Ledes

Reuters: "The deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis expanded to 12 states with the first case confirmed in Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday, bringing the total of cases to 184. The number of deaths from the outbreak linked to injections of steroid remained at 14 on Friday, the CDC said."

Washington Post: "A computer virus that wiped crucial business data from tens of thousands of computers at Middle Eastern energy companies over the summer marked the most destructive cyberattack on the private sector to date, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Thursday night in a major speech intended to warn of the growing perils in cyberspace."

AP: "A spokesman for the Taliban's Swat Valley chapter says its leadership decided already two months ago to kill a 14-year-old activist, who was shot and seriously wounded this week -- and then sent out a hit squad to carry out the job." ...

... The Atlantic: "Pakistan has arrested three suspects in the remote Swat Valley for the shooting of 14-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai. Police say the three men, aged 17 to 22, were involved in the attack, but that they all said the mastermind was a man Attaullah, who is still at large. Yousafzai was shot in the head on Tuesday on her way to school, in retaliation for her criticism of the Taliban."

AP: "China's newly named Nobel laureate for literature expressed hope Friday that an imprisoned Chinese winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be freed, putting a dent in the ruling Communist Party's attempts to burnish its credentials with the latest prize. Mo Yan, the first Chinese writer to win the literature Nobel, made the comments about dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was awarded the Peace Prize while serving a prison sentence for opposing single-party rule, in response to a question at a news conference."

Reuters: "When scientists selected a rock to test the Mars rover Curiosity's laser, they expected it to contain the same minerals as rocks found elsewhere on the Red Planet, but learned instead it was more similar to a rock found on Earth. The rock was chemically more akin to an unusual type of rock found on oceanic islands like Hawaii and St. Helena, as well as in continental rift zones like the Rio Grande, which extends from Colorado to Chihuahua, Mexico."

@Akhilleus: yeah, & he made it pretty clear that the granny starver is a granny starver. And someday, kids, you too are going to be a granny or a grampy, so you better vote for Obama & save your own self.

Kate, were U listening when Biden explained the importance of the Supreme Court appointments! Thought he had some very good moments and clearly won the night. Ryan's failed attempt to make Biden look like a doddering old guy when he turned to Joe and said "I know you are under duress" made Ryan look real small (except for his nose and ears). Biden wasn't the one having to guzzle water to maintain his cool.

Biden was definitive and strong on almost every issue and FINALLY, a statement on women's health care and Roe v Wade.

Victoria, I wish I had thought of current TV ahead of the debate. The reluctance of those MSNBC folks to strongly support a very good performance on Biden's part is tiresome. I'm not looking for fantasy. However, I believe Obama lost more points than warranted in the polls, after the debate, based on media hysteria and Democratic pantie twisting.

Diane-Yes, I agree! Biden won the night! His mention of the Supremes made MY night--and probably the rest of my week. He may make "gaffes," but this man truly GETS IT! He is the real deal. Barry is lucky to have him as VP. In fact, he sounded way more Presidential and on top of it than did Obama in his first debate.

Paulie Ryan is a panderer. He is not bothered by facts, and his speaking of "people he had met who....." was pathetic. This man is a lightweight--even if he is a buff bodybuilding obsessive.

I am hoping that Obama makes some hay in his next debate by talking about the Supremes. It will make Akhilleus and me very happy--and may win him the election. If people thought for a minute about the possibility of two or more justices being appointed by Romneybot--like Thomas and/or Scalia--this would be a no brainer!

Perhaps I missed it, but I was waiting for Biden to call Ryan on the "abortion should not be decided by unelected judges." Since the GOP are so Constitution crazed, he could have asked what Ryan has against our Constitutional system of government with the system of checks and balances.

Much of the media either doesn't know what to say or has decided that Biden was mean and disrespectful to poor altar boy Paulie, who behaved rather well and was a good little tyke who didn't wee wee his diapey on stage.

No kidding. Jonathan Karl, ABC's pretend political analyst, after the debate, lauded Ryan for--get this--his outstanding command of the facts and his deep knowledge of foreign policy. So he pronounces the name of a foreign country mostly correctly and now he's fucking Dean Acheson? Also, Ryan wouldn't know a fact if it came up and pissed on his shoes. He demonstrated that pretty much all night.

CNN's people, for their part, apparently have no idea what to say, their editorial board must have been running around the newsroom chasing each other's tails wondering how to keep from declaring Biden the winner, and so instead of attempting actual, you know, journalism, came up with the deathless lede: "25 Funniest Tweets During the VP Debate".

Seriously? That's all you got? Pathetic.

I'll have to read other outlets tomorrow, but for my money, Biden bitch slapped that little punk. The Fraud lived up to the name by avoiding even the tiniest detail of the R&R magical math and right-wing fantasy world view.

And the president now needs to retract every mean thing he's ever said about ol' Joe.

(Also, Martha Raddatz! Yeah. She'll be on every Republican dart board in the country tomorrow for not kowtowing to their boy and letting him lie with impunity.)

By the by, at first glance I thought those lovely pictures of Congressman Douchebag were nicely done, and hilarious, Photoshop work. It's a lot funnier when you find out they're real. I wonder how long it took that moron to perfect that goofy grin. I mean he must have worked on that sucker for years. No one can work up that stupid a look in a single photo shoot. Did he think he was trying out for a reboot of Jersey Shore? I bet he had Rage Against the Machine on his iPod just in case some cute PA asked him what he was listening to.

Can you imagine the suppressed howls by the photographer and his or her assistants during that shoot. Gales of laughter as soon as doucheboy left. They probably couldn't wait to send shots off to their friends of this freakin' imbecile.

And this is the guy who is constantly putting off explaining to people how he will save the world because his plan is just too "wonky"?

Just like to congratulate all those in the VP debate. First, kudos to the moderator for a job very well done. The best political debate I think I've seen. My heart went out to Joe when he replied to the question of whether the US troops needed to be in Afghanistan till 2014. He must have been dying to exclaim that he had wanted them out for the last 31/2 years. Thanks to Ryan for showing up and doing a good job of representing his parties platform and providing many, many chuckles for Joe. Ryan's twisted smirk, like Romney's, must be the Republican's idea of disdain. Hopefully for the next presidential debate Barry can catch the flue or have an appendicitis attack and send Joe in his place.

"We don’t think that unelected judges should make this decision; that people through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society through the democratic process should make this determination." -- Paul Ryan

Ryan is saying here that the Congress should pass legislation outlawing abortion. This is in direct conflict with what Romney said way back two whole days ago when he told the Des Moines Register he didn't have any abortion legislation on his agenda. (Maybe he had his fingers crossed behind his back & was thinking, "I don't, but my sidekick Paulie does."

Well, it so happens that the Supremes ruled in a little opinion on a case styled Roe v. Wade, & 20 years later in Planned Parenthood v. Pennsylvania, that abortion is legal in the U.S. So what does that imply? That Romney would appoint only anti-abortion "unelected" justices, justices who would rule the Ryan abortion ban lawful.

There was a lot to Ryan's one little sentence, a sentence in which he promised to manipulate all three branches of government in his never-ending effort to deny women their reproductive rights. And some would say Paul Ryan is an ideologue. Howevah could they?

PBS post debate moderators noted Ryan's long pause after the question: “If a Romney/Ryan ticket is elected, should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried?”

Yes they should.

Brooks, of course lacking anything else, framed it as a debate betweengenerations. I saw it as debate between a genuine man, comfortable with himself and his beliefs, and that smarmy guy running for Senior Class President in high school. Real vs artifice, humanity vs puppetry.

"... people through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society through the democratic process should make this determination ..."

OK, and in addition to what folks have posted above, while I listened to this on CSPAN radio on today's commute (not having watched the show), I heard, also, echoes of "this should be decided in state legislatures", which is a theme of RR for just about anything that is hard.

Why does no one raise the fact that the GOP (and about half of the Supreme Court) seems to want to shred the Constitution and go back to the Articles of Confederation, which was all about states' rights, and didn't work? Or, in a more modern context, that the GOP preference for "doing it in the states" is called "the European Union" on the other side of the Atlantic? One thing that has made this country really, really successful is the power of consolidated strength that The Union brings together ("E Pluribus Unum," but also "Unitate Fortior.") The GOP line seems to be that we should let that unravel to allow a patchwork of mini-republics create a huge Balkans with nuclear weapons? Scary. And really bizarre.

I have a reevaluation of a previous estimate on the human race. I divided the group into three categories, the good, the bad and the ugly.My previous estimate was 45%, 45% and 10%. It is now 45%, 25% and 30%.

Re: Joe American and the annoying little prick; My focus group watched the debate and came up with the following woofs.The annoying little prick must be going out tonight, he's drinking enough water to mark every fire hydrant in town.Yea, but the annoying little prick won't scent higher than a short chihuahua.He reminds me of the beagle that LBJ held up by the ears.Sure as cat shit stinks the annoying little prick will say the dog ate his budget plan.What's with the groomer spit curl on the annoying little shits forehead? He looks like a poodle on the way to Westminster.Ol' Joe likes 99% mutts better than purebreds, you can feel it.Ol' Joe wags more than the annoying little prick barks.The focus group then voted to make some popcorn and watch the rest of the Yankee game because Ol' Joe was on guard and on point.

After a night's sleep, I still feel the same little cheerful buzz. I'm hopeful that Obama can catch the very few things Biden missed when the President meets the blizzard of mendacity that is Lord Small Balls. The bipartisan meme is way past annoying, I was so hoping Biden would repeat the O'Connell line about the primary goal of the Republicans - limiting Obama to one term. O’Connell was seen running through the crowd, during the inauguration speech yelling "this is not possible, for God sakes, YOU'RE black!" Romney’s plan , right after he repeals ACA and signs the bill overturning Roe V Wade, is to have congress ( only the Democrats) build a platform. Then he can fire them all in the spirit of bipartisanship.

We also need much more talk about the critical danger we face from Republicans, who are pissing their tidy whities in fear over the power of women and people of color, blatantly trying every trick in the book to reduce us to infantile status. That is a huge hurtle for the President as many many people do not see that their basic freedoms are in imminent danger.

Radditz was a rock star in comparison to Lehrer but what in God’s name was that question about what unique, personal character, blah blah blah do you bring to being VP?

@Patrick. Excellent point. What should be obvious to these great "patriots" is that the more functions that are turned over to the states, the less we are the "United States."

I don't see a particular virtue in local government, though I suppose there is virtue in having choices & "celebrating our differences." If you really want to live in Tea Total Town, you could find one. Or if you want to make sure your kids get a creationist public education & understand Phyllis Schlafly is a national treasure, you could find such a place -- somewhere in Texas maybe. Want to carry a concealed weapon to your college class? There must be a place. Conversely, I would choose to live in places that weren't steeped in those particular traditions.

But, speaking of creationism, if someone wants to argue that certain "leaders" want to take us back not just to pre-Constitutional days but to prehistoric days, you won't get a rebuttal from me.

What, I wonder, did we do before this plethora of punditry, this vast number of the population instantly weighing in on everything? Must have been something like contemplation and days before the words got out so that one had time to THINK and come to certain conclusions and then perhaps have discussions with others who may or may not have reached similar thoughts. Now it's all a race in time––the game of instant coverage and as good as that may be, it's also overload with a lot of nitwits* spouting their effluvia. I went to bed last night full to the brim with the many critiques coupled with visions of Biden and Ryan: Biden's smiles and forceful thrusting, at one point revealing the stutter that took him years to control, feeling glad that he did as well as he did; Ryan's smirk or permanent look of condescension, wondering how he could maintain that look throughout the debate and coming to the conclusion it was the water he drank that kept his face from deflating by hydrating. So there––now I have joined the long list of voices giving my dish of dimes in this great democracy of OPINION.

* one of these nitwits is Rich Lowry––he of the "I almost wet my pants over Sarah Palin" person––who said Ryan was spectacular and Biden was rude, that it was a definite win for R&R. He is a little weasel of a man who once said McCain was brilliant in his pick of Palin and they were going to win "fer sure."

As a recent NYT editorial pointed out: States rights are important to Republicans because the state house is notoriously more corruptible than the Federal government. ALEC has been writing legislation for passage at the state level for quite a while now.

If the Republicans manage to amend the Constitution, however, who needs states rights to get the job done?

Several points made this morning bring to mind problems experienced by our old friend Thomas Paine.

Interesting, don’t you think, that Paine is the one Founder never mentioned by the right? It’s no accident.

You will never hear Ryan the Fraud touting the brilliance and influence of Tom Paine because Paine’s thinking, as essential as it was to the formation of the United States and to the development and fruition of our democratic republic, is anathema to the modern GOP, an organization about as disdainful of democracy as the wealthy oligarchs of ancient Greece who tried to smother it as it lay in its crib.

Bertrand Russell, in his study of Western Philosophy, recalls a passage from Aristotle’s Politics which describes a group of rich men, much like those who attend Romney’s swanky closed door whining sessions. They saw, like Romney and his kind, that democracy meant that they couldn’t do whatever they wanted to whomever they wanted whenever they wanted. At least some of the time. That meant their greed and power could be curbed by the great unwashed masses, and who the fuck wants that?

So they took an oath. Wanna hear it?

“I will be an enemy to the people and will devise all the harm against them which I can”.

Sound like anyone you know? Anyway, Russell goes on to opine that “…nowadays reactionaries are not so frank.” Well, Bertie, I beg to differ. Grover Norquist is exactly that frank. But now that I think of it, neither Norquist nor Romney nor Ryan are reactionaries.

Reactionaries wish to return to some heretofore believed-in never-never land where everything went according to Hoyle (the right-wing Hoyle, not the other guy).

For most of them this means a white picket fence, Brillcream Mayberry where brown people picked up the trash, washed the clothes, and never said boo to their betters, where pesky feminazis were unknown and where know-it-all liberals could be taken out and beaten up, all in the name of AMERICA and FREEDOM, natch.

Where simple folk tipped their hats or curtseyed to bankers and where a single word from a pinch-hearted preacher could ostracize anyone deemed uppity or too free with their thinking.

These people are nothing less than revolutionaries who would overthrow centuries of American democracy in favor of the ascension of unbridled capitalist oligarchies underpinned and supported by the moralistic Savonarolas slithering out of the religious right. Control the masses with religion then shear them like sheep and tase them if they don’t get on their knees and thank you for fucking them over. Think I’m kidding? How many Occupy protesters have been tased? How about another 50,000 volts for good measure, motherfucker? Remember to Vote for Romney!

But this is exactly the sort of thing that irked Paine and it was his downfall. In his book The Age of Reason, he wrote blistering attacks against organized religion and in favor or rationality in place of superstition. He complained of “…the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the bible is filled…”

He described Christianity as little better than an ancient sun worship cult that had replaced the sun with the figure of Jesus. For these sins against organized religion (specifically Christianity) and as well for his call for the abolition of slavery and equality for women, including the right to vote, he has been relegated on the right, to the black hole of national memory. His name is occasionally trotted out (largely because there may have been no United States without him), but none of the teabaggers who have made religious hegemons out of their hand-picked founders ever acknowledge him.

The vicious amalgamation of right-wing fundamentalism and conservative oligarchy currently supporting R&R is much more akin to something cooked up and supported by monarchists or royalists, not citizens of a democratic republic.

This plays directly into the way Romney and Ryan and their ilk in congress seek, little by little, piece by piece, to dismantle American governmental and social institutions, to hand control over to the preachers and the poachers; the clerics and the masters of the universe. They realize however that they can’t do this in broad daylight, so they must cloak their treason with distractions, wars, culture clashes, and spurious alarums over the imminent loss of their FREEDOMS!!!!! See, for instance, the wonderful new groups espousing the causes of religious freedom popping up in places like Florida (surprise, surprise) where breathless calls to arms turn the prison watch tower spotlight on anyone, like Paine, attempting to escape their bible-thumping clutches and who point out what a complete crock of stinking crapola they’re trying to sell. But this is the stuff that O’Reilly and Limbaugh and Hannity and Coulter and the rest of the amoral howler monkeys use to cover up what’s really going on. And this is what Ryan is attempting to do with his “unelected judges” sleight of hand. This is some seriously treacherous shit.

What’s really happening is something Paine feared. Paine proferred the concept of an open public spirit that brought together all manner of men and women into a tapestry of thought, a fecund, productive environment in which ideas can be freely exchanged without the parlous influence of princes or priests.

The modern GOP, under Romney and Ryan want exactly that kind of influence. They want to do away with anything connected to Paine's concept of public. For them, PRIVATE is the new black. Private equity, private charter schools, privatization of every public entity, and complete control of your privates.

The ancient Greeks had a word for it (surprised?). They called it “pleonexia”, and a Wikipedia definition of it is perfect: "…ruthless self-seeking and an arrogant assumption that others and things exist for one's own benefit" Again, sound familiar? The Rat has this tattooed on his ass. That's what the little girl was gasping at in that picture.

So Romney and Ryan will use religion and the innate right-wing hatred and suspicion of democracy and average Americans to control and to indulge in their pleonexic manias.

S this is why you never hear Thomas Paine mentioned by the right-wing oligarchs or their nose-ring followers in congress. Paine sought a much different America. Conservatives fling the word “founders” around like some magic shibboleth but they leave out one of the most important of that group, because his thinking clashes with their desire to control us, to tell women what they are allowed and not allowed to do with their own bodies. And to pick our pockets while we argue over dreck and watch another season of Survivor.

Tom Paine notably regarded government as a necessary evil, but he also saw that the lack of a government or a bad (GOP style) government was far worse. He realized that a well run government had many things to recommend it. Poor Tom was jailed for his beliefs and died a pauper’s death. A handful of people attended his funeral. He was made a pariah for his inability to kowtow to the preachers and the money men, a man who spoke his mind and preferred reason to bully-boy power tactics and straight jacket religious control.

A man feared and loathed by the likes of Paul Ryan and Mittens Romney. His Common Sense has no place in their world view.

The media, obsessed as they are with labeling every debate as a "knock down fight," or "battles of the VP's," or some other lazy sports metaphor, to point out the ill logic of Ryan's or the GOP's position on abortion. Ryan, who says he's an observant Catholic, supports the legislation that would mandate the start of life beginning at conception... which is the Vatican's position too...but allow for an exception for rape, incest, and life of the mother, and Romney has said he would sign a law overturning Roe v. Wade but has not said what would replace it. But if life begins at conception, then how does Ryan and the GOP square the morality of ending an innocent life even in the case of rape, incest and the life of the mother? No questions about this obvious dodge, and certainly no answers from Ryan. The real answer was given by Biden, i.e., 'I believe, and follow, the Catholic position for my self, but I cannot impose that position on others.' The Ryan/GOP position would return American women to the Dickensian era of the late 19th century England where women died in child labor because of difficult births and where girls and rape victims were forced to have their babies only to have them taken away without consent and sent to homes where care was supposedly better but dubious at best. Good luck Mr. Ryan in your too obvious con of all women!

Best line of the day; Charles Pierces' last, What is the difference between Sara Palin and Paul Ryan? Lipstick!!The corporate media pundits lament that Biden didn't show proper respect to Ryan. Excuse me!! Respect must be earned, Biden showed far more respect to the flea brained, lightweight, wonk faker than was ever deserved.

As Roger and others have pointed out, most of the lazy shirkers in MediaLand prefer to rely on old, time-tested tropes rather than break new ground by, you know, thinking for themselves.

Plus, this way, they don't have to concern themselves with the actual arguments. They can jettison any serious weighing in on Ryan's largely inept, detail free jitterbug and concentrate instead on how mean Crazy Joe was to that nice boy they all like so much because, at least for a malicious right-wing toad, he doesn't drool on his shoes. Hell, the fact that he's even WEARING shoes makes him A-Okay for guys like Luke Russert and Fuzzy Gregory. "Look Fuzzy, the guy's wearing shoes. And they're shiny! He MUST be a genius."

In a way this points up one of the resounding success stories of right-wing knuckledragger ideology: the ability to communicate and control simple, memorable, uncluttered metaphors.

Romney: LEADERRyan: GENIUSObama:......er, well I suppose NOT WHITE is all they need.Biden: CRAZYRepublicans: FISCALLY RESPONSIBLEDemocrats: TAX AND SPEND

It doesn't matter how connected to reality these metaphors are, in fact, reality has the undesired effect of clouding the message.

This is an Obama failing too, thinking that voters, when presented with the facts, with the truth, will open their eyes and say "Oh is that what they mean? Holy shit!"

Instead they open their eyes, many of them, and still say "We have a black president? Holy shit!"

I like your construction "Ill logic". It nicely communicates the kind of sick thinking that lights up the slimy synapses of right-wing brainiacs as they concern themselves with how, when, and where they will take away a woman's right to choose.

Paine's Common Sense was a Molotov cocktail through the window when it first came out, and when compared to other influential political philosophers of the enlightenment such as Locke and to a lesser extent Hume ( my man ), Paine's writing still jumps off the page, puts you in a full Nelson and screams "Pay attention! These fuckers want to permanently enslave you." No doubt the contemporary Paul Ryans were sniffing that Paine had no ideas and was just trying to scare the rabble, as our very own version did last night when Biden called him on his plans to starve millions of grannies.

Common Sense was written in simple, straightforward, and uncompromising language; language that would make modern GOP hacks and shills like Ryan run screaming to the lawyers for protection from Truth.

Paine was a serious thinker able to speak to all Americans--especially the 47% of his day in a way that allowed them to feel the power of true democracy. To show them that they don't owe their existence to lying pricks like The Rat and his sniveling, curling, backward baseball cap wearing fraud of a royalist sidekick.

Plus, Common Sense outsold the Bible when it was published.

Can you think of any other reasons for the fundies and royalist oligarchs to despise and fear Thomas Paine?

@Akhilleus: Re: Ryan dumbbell poses---I assume you are straight,so here is the reason the gimme' cap is turned backwards. When yougo down on the photographer or personal trainer, the hat must beturned around or it would get in the way. He obviously forgot toturn it back around after that encounter, and also, he is a swallower;because you can't keep that smirk on your face with a mouth full.

@Akhilleus: I join Mushiba in thanking you for expounding on Paine. "Common Sense" is noted as the most radical and important pamphlet written in the American Revolution and one of the most brilliant ever written in the English language. Another important writings of his was his "American Crisis" series, essays that appeared throughout the war with Britain. The most famous, as you know, is the one which opens with those memorable lines: "These are the times that try men's souls..." Here was a man whose ideas were trampled and spit upon––who was always a man out of joint with his times and yet in this time we honor him and revere his sagacity. Well, some of us honor him––others, like in his day, would shove him aside accusing him of trying to "unchristianize" the masses. Some things never change, do they? Again––thanks for remembering and bringing it to our attention.